


In Memory of You

by Judgement



Series: Rift [6]
Category: Fate/Grand Order, Fate/stay night & Related Fandoms, Fate/stay night - All Media Types
Genre: F/M, Fluff, Reader-Insert, Romance, Time Travel
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-04
Updated: 2020-10-04
Packaged: 2021-03-07 20:01:30
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,066
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26823331
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Judgement/pseuds/Judgement
Summary: With humanity saved, nobody needed a burnt out, washed up master anymore. Nobody but the King of Uruk.
Relationships: Gilgamesh | Caster/Reader
Series: Rift [6]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1928569
Comments: 3
Kudos: 94





	In Memory of You

**Author's Note:**

> I might write a follow up to this, idk yet. I'll reread this and fix mistakes later, ugh, so tired.

“Are you sure this is what you want, senpai?” Mash’s voice wavered as she fought back the tears.

You felt guilty for asking her to do this, but you were so damned _tired_ of it all. Of the Mage’s Association consistently fighting over whether they should allow you in Chaldea still. Of your entire existence, despite the only reason _they_ continued to exist was because you did. Had you not, humanity would have never existed. But who needs the hero anymore once the world’s no longer in danger, right? 

“I’m sure. I’m sorry to ask this of you, Mash..” 

Tears gathered against your eyes. Your nose tingled and burned as you fought your down the urge to cry. She was your best friend, your shield and savior. None of it would have been possible without her. And you had fought tooth and nail for them to let her go so she could spend the rest of her life living a regular human life. But that wasn’t what you wanted and for the longest time you couldn't figure it out. You wandered aimlessly in circles, went with the motions and whims of the Mage’s Association. You taught classes and trained new masters for a time, but you were tired and sick of it all. 

Mash hiccuped and rubbed at her eyes, pushing her glasses up before she shook her head. A determined look settled on her face after a moment, 

“No, if this is what senpai wants, then it’s the least I can do!” But the tears kept coming anyway and were contagious because you started crying, too.

The Wise King of Uruk stood by the rayshift machine and watched with a twitch of his eye. 

“O-Oi.” He had offered so you wouldn’t be miserable. What good was it if you were just going to be it anyway because you missed the shield girl?

“Sorry, sorry!” You pulled away from the hug with Mash who wiped at her face again and nodded, encouraging. You felt lighter with her approval, and you knew she would always know where you were. Her and her only. 

“Goodluck, senpai!”

“You know where to find me, Mash.” She smiled through the tears and watched as the King of Uruk put his hand on your shoulder.

You gave her the best, heartwarming and thankful smile you could give to your best friend. The light ripping your existence from the present and thrusting it into the past a moment later. Your stomach dropped the when the light of the rayshift disappeared, replaced by the sun that hung over Uruk. Gravity took hold of your airborne figure and yanked you down. Your scream echoed along with the King’s laughter as you dropped into the pools of water that surrounded the main throne. Despite the heat of the day, the water was cool against your skin but it lost its appeal when you resurface sputtering and hacking after you accidentally swallowed some. By the time you finished your fit and wiped your face the King was near the water’s edge, hauling himself out as he shook the water from his hair. When he stood up and turned to face you laughter peeled from your lips. 

“What are you laughing for, mongrel?” He sounded bemused. 

“You look like a drowned rat!” 

He was so lean and the clothes that normally added dimension to his slender frame, stuck to him like a second skin thanks to the water. Your laughter, however, is short-lived, for a Gate of Babylon opened and dropped something heavy. Whatever the object was, it was large enough that the water crashed over you and dragged you back under. You were quicker to reorientate yourself and swam up to the surface a second time, sputtering like the first.

“Fuhaha! Who looks like a drowned rat now?” He grinned, arms folded over his chest. 

“Both of us. Splashing me with water doesn’t take away the fact _you_ still look like one.” His eye twitched as you swam toward the ledge and hauled yourself up. “Is this even going to work?” 

The King looked at you, watching as you sat on the ledge and wrung the water out of whatever you could. The way you raised your hand up toward the sun and gazed at the faded command seals, with only one remaining and rest faded like a permanent blood-stained scar. Your shoulders slumped when you dropped your hand, taking a moment to compose yourself before you stood. 

He resisted the urge to sigh. “You need to have more faith in your King.”

“I mean I do, it’s just—”

“Not enough!” He dismissed you with a wave of his hand accompanied by a frown. 

You fell silent and followed him, every bit of you drenched to the bone. The King’s lighter attire would dry much faster and now that the two of you were walking, it was obvious he was much better off. You felt and looked more like a drowned rat than he did, especially since by the time he was dry you'd still be soaked. But they're thoughts that derailed quick enough when you entered the throne room. Amazed at how your servant dismissed the awkward reunion between his servant self and the Wise King in his original timeline. The original recognized you but seeing himself as a servant looking every bit the drowned rat, is as odd as it is amusing.

“To what do I owe this unexpected visit? Another singularity?” He frowned at that thought and dismissed his confused attendants, allowing for privacy.

Your servant scoffed, “I’m delivering this mongrel and memories to myself.”

Without waiting for approval as this was his self and his kingdom, he made his way up the steps to the throne. You stood back awkwardly, at a loss for words and watched. The Wise King of this time, the non-servant, quirked a brow and his red gaze flicked to your face.

“Oh?”

“I-If you would allow it, of course. We can’t—I can’t force you to take the memories.” 

Your servant paused and turned to look back at you, disdain on his face.

“Why are you muttering now? You’ve never shown such meek respect before.” His eye twitched.

Was it because he was a servant and the one on the throne was his real self before he became a heroic spirit? He voiced the thoughts to you and watched as you floundered, trying to be respectful to the original but casual to the one you'd befriended.

“N-No, not at all.” You couldn't look him in the eye when you said it.

“Oi! Such insolence!” He’s was back down the steps in an instant, tugging on your face. 

“O-Ow! Ow, stop! Kingggow that hurts!” You attempted to fight him off, but if you yanked his hands, it would just tug your cheeks. “What are you—ow! Five!?”

When he let go your hands flew up to your face, covering your cheeks protectively as you half glared half pouted at him. He grinned down at you, satisfied you didn’t look nearly as cowed and submissive as before. The original Wise King on the throne watched with an amused twitch of his lips as he rested his head against his fist. He could ask what it was all about but if you were here to deliver his heroic, servant-self’s memory, then he would get the answers to those questions in time. 

“I’ll allow it.”

His heroic self scoffed when he made his way back up, as if there was ever an option to deny. “Mongrel, hurry it up.”

The two Kings looked back at you at the base of the throne and you stood there, unsure of it. You told yourself you weren’t giving him up, that you were just.. merging the two. But why did it feel you were still saying goodbye to one? Once the last seal disappeared with this command.. you’d release the contract with him, your last servant left. The two of them looked confused when the tears started as you clutched the hand with command seals to your chest. Though the heroic servant looked slightly more concerned and even panicked. 

“What’re you crying for?” It lacked the usual bite.

You shook your head and sniffed, wiping away stray tears.

“Nothing. You may be the same but there are still some differences,” you took a shuttered breath, “and, I fell in love with the heroic spirit version of you, so saying goodbye is hard.”

They’re both wide eyed now, but the heroic-spirit's eyes locked to yours and his jaw went slack. He tried to find the words, but before he could you rose your hand up.

“By this last seal as your master, I command you to hand all the memories you’ve gathered as the heroic spirit that accompanied me on this journey and give them to the you that has yet to become a heroic spirit.” And after.. he would return to the throne.

He’s frustrated as the command seal glowed red and the impulse to obey hummed in his veins, fueled his movements. But he stubbornly stood for a long agonizing moment and stared at you, meeting your eyes and the tears in them that made his chest ache. 

“Tsk.” He scoffed and turned toward his self. 

It’s somewhat odd to want to say something to himself. To tell the non-servant that stared up at him curiously to take good care of you. That you meant the world to him and that he had fallen in love with you, too. Like he was giving you to somebody else and it left a bitter taste on his tongue. He sighed and leaned forward, grabbing the back of his other self's head and pressed their forehead together and shut his eyes. The memories together that the two of you shared, of everything he had experienced and felt, rushed through him. A slide show behind his eyelids and the weight in his chest felt like it’d crush him. Gradually, it grew lighter and so did his body. When the magic ran dry and the feeling in his limbs faded, he stepped back and let go. He looked down at you and smiled bitterly as you cried openly and tried to give him your best parting smile. Like you had done for Mash.

When the seal vanished so did your servant in a burst of gold, glimmering dust. It left you and the Wise King of this era, the real, living thing and not your servant who held you through the worst times. If this didn’t work, if this version of him didn’t get any of the memories then it left you stuck and stranded here. With a King that didn’t remember what the two of you had been through and somehow that felt like a fate worse than death. Your heart sunk to your stomach as you tried to stifle the hiccups and sobs. Wiping away at your eyes, looking up at the King whose eyes were still closed. He almost looked like he was sleeping peacefully in his chair which brought a bitter laugh past your lips. 

“Please don’t tell me you died on the throne, again.” You laughed to yourself, but tears only came more and you squatted down.

The Wise King smiled at your joke and opened his eyes, watching you quietly. All the memories and warmth in his chest when he looked at you only made the smile wider. Seeing how heartbroken you were, how you confessed right before his heroic self vanished. It made his own heartache. He had loved you—he _did_ love you. The King stood and made his way down the steps toward your crouched form rubbing away at your face with your arm as you cried quietly. He knelt in front of you, his hand brushed against the back of your head and tugged you close so you tumbled into him. 

“Fool,” he murmured with his lips pressed to your forehead, “you’ll make me look bad if people see the King has made his Queen cry.”

You opened your eyes and pulled back, surprised. Your eyes searching his and the words all tumbled to your tongue but sputtered past your lips, incomprehensible. 

“You—what, wait—it worked? You remember?” You clung to him, to hope.

“Yes.” His smile took your breath away along with the kiss he gave you.


End file.
